Wofford turns to freshman Jacks at quarterback

Evan Jacks needed seasoning. Then the season needed Jacks.Saturday morning after the team breakfast, a few hours before Wofford would take on Presbyterian at Gibbs Stadium, players broke into their position meetings.That’s when the quarterbacks got the news. It was time for the kid. Jacks, a redshirt freshman from Johns Creek, Ga., would get his first career start. “I had a slight feeling it was coming,” Jacks said. Coming on the heels of Wofford’s first offensive shutout against an FCS team since 2005, Jacks sparked the Terriers to a 55-14 victory. He ran for 70 yards and a touchdown. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 63 yards without an interception. He guided the triple-option up and down the field.“It was exciting,” Jacks said. “I think we’re back on track now. It was good to be able to go out there and do our thing and execute. Everyone was on point. I got in my element, pretty much, and ran around.”Wofford (3-2, 2-0 Southern Conference) plays host 1:30 p.m. Saturday to Elon for homecoming. Jacks, who has been behind junior James Lawson and sophomore Michael Weimer, figures to get the nod again.“There was a lot of ‘Wow’ with Evan on the field,” Wofford head coach Mike Ayers said. “I think people in the stands saw a guy who can be a difference-maker.”Jacks played in the opener at Baylor but not in the following wins against The Citadel and Georgia Southern. He saw action in the 3-0 loss to Gardner-Webb in the final minutes when the Terriers were desperate for something big to happen. Ayers, upon returning from Baylor, said Jacks was too jacked-up, so to speak, and needed to settle down.“He certainly doesn’t need a rah-rah before a game,” Ayers said. “He’s more than ready to go. I like that. The thing he has to learn is to let the game come to him. It’s going to be all right. … I think it was just a matter of reps and maturing. It was about time to see what he can be like. We felt we needed to see how it would all pan out. Evan showed that he is a player. He can make plays with his feet and his arm. When things aren’t quite perfect, he can still make plays. “We had a taste of it at Waco (Texas) and there was some seasoning left to do, you might say. What we’re working towards is for him to get it all together. He’s made a ton of progress. He’s a young player. This is his first year. You have to understand that what we do takes time to master.”Jacks called his problem “happy feet.” It was a good thing at Northview High School, where, if plays broke down or things got a little fuzzy, he would just take off. He ran for nearly 1,000 yards as a senior — in addition to 2,300 yards passing — and much of that was from scrambling around. It hasn’t been easy to tone down his style.“It’s pretty difficult, actually,” Jacks said. “In high school, I could do that and always make something happen. Now it’s a different speed. People can catch up. The coaches have talked about that with me. Sometimes I have to throw the ball away. Sometimes I have to settle for a short gain or no gain. … I feel like I’ve been able to control my feet a little better. I still get some happy feet in the pocket, but I’m working hard on controlling that.”“If all we did was run the ball every play, Evan would have been in there a long, long time ago,” Ayers said. “But we’ve tried to be more balanced and create a throwing game that we feel comfortable with and the quarterbacks can execute. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.”Jacks has passed the eye test since spring practice. He has a different speed. He can make people miss. He’s shown a strong, accurate arm. It was just a matter of convincing him, to put it in baseball terms, that he doesn’t need to hit home runs every at-bat.“I’ve always known what Evan can do. He’s going to be a great player,” Wofford running back Donovan Johnson said. “He can do a lot of good things, (he) just needed to get in there. That showed last weekend. We’re going to build on that.”